Abnormal resonance is frequently observed in the speech of Deaf and Hard of hearing individuals. It can be categorized as (“Resonance disorders”, n.d.):

• Hypernasality (too much nasal air emission)
• Hyponasality (too little nasal emission; sounds become denasal e.g., /m/ becomes /b/)
• Cul-de-Sac resonance (sound becomes “trapped” within a cavity (oral, nasal, or pharyngeal))
• Mixture of the three above

Distorted resonance may be attributed to a structural abnormality, insufficient velar-pharyngeal closure, and/or faulty movement and positioning of the tongue. All result in altered cavities that distort the acoustic signal produced from the vocal chords. To hear examples of Deaf speakers, refer to the Nasality section under the Training Exercises tab of the Interactive Learning Module.

For vowel sounds, it is often difficult to determine how a student creates a particular resonance pattern. This makes remediation for formal instruction challenging. However, if a student has access to auditory feedback to monitor performance, that is helpful. Students may utilize visual feedback by observing and mimicking examples of mouth models producing various sounds (better if the models are a front or sagittal cut/view) or use biofeedback if available. For consonants, real-time visual feedback (e.g., a spectrogram) can help correct nasal-related misproductions such as denasal consonants (‘continuous vs non-continuous’ sounds are easily identifiable on a spectrogram).